I’m sitting on the floor, deeply engrossed in a book on Witchcraft. The city library will be closing in 20 minutes. I need to hurry.

This book has me mesmerized. Spells and incantations. I must have it. I add it to the stack.

I stand and look down at my stack of books. There are 12 of them. I pick the stack up with a little grunt.

On the 2nd floor of the library, way back in the back; I discovered this isle I had not seen before! I have been pouring over the books on the shelves. Magic and witchcraft! How titillating, how forbidden! Some of these books are old and yellowed. This is all the more exciting to me! Words from the ancients!

Carefully looking around the large stack in my arms, I walk down the steps and toward the front counter.

I’m 10 years old and it’s summertime. School is out and I have spent the last couple of hours on this beautiful summer day in the library.

I love the summer months. This means that I can read as much as I want to without the interruption of school. The 12 books I am loaded down with will probably not last me a week.

But not all of them are for reading. Some of the books are just for browsing; like the one on witchcraft. I also have a big picture book on travel in Italy.

The other books are for reading. Real reading. I have a variety. One is a biography on Abraham Lincoln. One is a fanciful fiction about a little girl by Beverly Cleary, a favorite author. There are others too that will be devoured this week. I average reading about a book a day in the summertime.

I set my books up on the counter and present my library card to the lady working behind it. She smiles at me, a familiar face here. Quickly, the books are checked out and I happily walk out into the sunshine.

I hurry home so I can once again study and pick over my selection and decide which one to devour first.

***

Mom grumbles at me and tells me to go play outside. Remember “outside”? I do spend a lot of time outside and my skin turns as brown as bread in the summer sun. But I’m drawn to a quiet spot to lose my self between the pages of a book.

A new book, was a new adventure waiting to happen. I would read the book cover, a tease of what waited within the pages. Nothing was more exciting!